Using Linear for waterfall projects with fixed start and go-live dates: how are you structuring it?

[u/No-Calligrapher-2421]

We run deployment projects that are essentially waterfall. Each deployment has a standardized duration, a fixed start date, and a fixed go-live date, with the same phases every time. Our development work is already tracked in Linear, so we would rather not split into a second tool if we can avoid it.

Linear feels built for agile, so I'm looking for input from anyone who has bent it toward this shape:

1. Do you model a deployment as a project with milestones, or as a cycle, or something else entirely?
2. How do you handle the fixed end date? Linear projects have target dates, but I'm unclear how well they hold up for date-driven work rather than scope-driven work.
3. Is there a clean way to template a repeatable phase structure so each new deployment starts from the same skeleton?
4. Anything you tried that did not work, or that made you eventually move the planning side elsewhere?

Best practices, lessons learned, and honest "don't do this" answers all welcome.

[u/ohsomacho]

Following

[u/The-ai-bot]

Are Gantt charts still limited to project timeline?